Field of the Invention--The present invention relates generally to diet cards of the type used in hospitals or extended care facilities for providing dietary information relating to a particular individual, and more particularly to an improved diet card and related system and method of use whereby a single diet card is useable for any of a plurality of special diets and is capable of containing extensive information relative to the desired diet for an individual.
In institutions such as hospitals and extended care facilities, the use of disposables has proliferated to a remarkable extent. Everything from syringes to catheters to paper goods is designed for a single use, after which it are thrown out. This has, of course, resulted in such institutions being required to stock all such disposable items in relatively great quantities. While this has been done, it has contributed in part to a great increase in costs at such institutions which has greatly exceeded inflation.
The recent climate in health care has resulted in an ever-increasing awareness of costs, with hospitals and extended care facilities becoming more vigilant with high costs in general, and with the high cost of stocking a great number of disposable goods in particular. This has resulted in a drive toward reducing the number of disposable goods required, particularly where one such disposable item can be substituted for two or more similar items. As a result of the institutional pressure to reduce the number of different disposables stocked and used, manufacturers of goods destined for use in such institutions have also become increasingly aware of the competitive benefits of offering such multi-use disposable goods.
One small but significant disposable item commonly used in hospitals and extended care facilities is the patient diet card. Diet cards are paper cards which are typically approximately three and one-half inches by five and one-half inches in size, with a single card being used to order and deliver one or more meals for a single patient. The diet cards are typically stocked by the various facilities in seven or eight different colors, with each color indicating a different type of diet. Common examples of the different types of diets are a sodium controlled diet for individuals who are sensitive to salt, a soft/mechanical diet for individuals who can only tolerate soft foods, a diabetic diet for individuals with diabetes, a low fat/low cholesterol diet for individuals who must restrict their fat and cholesterol intake, a regular diet for individuals with no restrictions, a combination diet with two or more of the previous restrictions, and other diets such as vegetarian diets, liquid diets, and diets due to the individual's religion, etc.
In short, institutions such as hospitals and extended care facilities must stock seven or eight different diet cards in order to meet even these most common of dietary criteria in serving food to patients. It is at once apparent to those skilled in the art that the requirement of stocking seven or eight different diet cards is undesirable. Even more undesirable, however, would be carrying a generic card with the type of diet being hand-written on the diet card, since this would require even more individual attention to each card, requiring more time to be spent by one or more individuals. This, of course, would result in additional expense, which is even more of a disadvantage than stocking the seven or eight different diet cards.
Another problem with presently used diet cards is that they are intrinsically just what their name suggests--cards. As such, they are flat and incapable of standing up by themselves. If they are placed on a food tray, they do not stand out and are thus not highly visible, making it extremely difficult for the facility staff to distinguish the name and room number of the patient above the level of the tray. Thus, additional effort is required by personnel distributing the food trays to visually locate the cards, so that the correct food trays may be given to the correct patients. It is also worth noting at least in passing that the diet cards can easily be covered with articles on the food trays, presenting even more of a problem.
One potential solution to this latter problem is the use of plastic stands or base members to support the diet cards in an upright position, but this even this approach presents problems of its own. For example, it takes time and effort to insert the food cards into such stands, and the stands further represent just one additional item to be stocked by the institution. Thus, it will be appreciated that while presently available diet cards are not wholly satisfactory, they remain in wide use at this time.
It is accordingly the primary objective of the present invention that it present a single diet card and related method of use therefor which may be substituted for the seven or eight different diet cards which are presently in common use by hospitals and extended care facilities. It is a related objective that the improved single diet card and method of the present invention be a complete substitute for the seven or eight different diet cards in that the improved diet card provide thereon an easily readable indication of the particular special diet (or diets) which have been chosen for use for the intended recipient of the meal or meals to be provided together with the diet card. In addition, it is an objective of the present invention that the improved diet card and method not require substantial effort by facility personnel in order to indicate on the diet card the particular special diet (or diets) which has (have) been chosen.
In another aspect of the diet card and method of the present invention, it is an objective that the diet card be self-standing in a relatively upright position. As such, it is an objective of the present invention that the improved diet card and method do not require an additional support mechanism such as a stand or base in order for the diet card to be self-standing. It is yet another objective that the diet card of the present invention be completely flat prior to its use, both for convenient storage of unused diet cards and for ease of use by facility personnel when the diet card is to be filled out.
The diet card of the present invention must also be of construction which is relatively durable, but yet is easy to use, and in an alternate embodiment provision should be made for the diet card of the present invention to be reusable. In order to enhance the market appeal of the diet card of the present invention, it should also be relatively no more expensive than are presently known diet cards, to thereby afford it the broadest possible market. Finally, it is also an objective that all of the aforesaid advantages and objectives of the diet card and the related method of the present invention be achieved without incurring any substantial relative disadvantage.